Monsters of Cool

[Sejs]

One of my favourite critters is the Wyvern. I actually like these guys better than dragons. Lots of fun. I think it was the old Dragon Ecology article that really did it for me for these guys. I still remember the line about villagers tarring their roofs with wyvern poison to ward off wyverns. Very cool.

I love me some huge 2-headed pyro wyvern. Very classic 2-headed beastial dragon monster.


As for my players ... 'love' isn't exactly the word for their reaction to it.

 

[Ry]

I love me some huge 2-headed pyro wyvern. Very classic 2-headed beastial dragon monster.

For me, it's not so much about the pyro as the rend.


Chomp, chomp - GUAHH!

 

[Celebrim]

Also really like manticores. Not all that different from wyverns I suppose. Just a very easily customizable critter that works at a whole bunch of levels and locations.

One of my favorites as well. Way back in the old days of 1st edition, I introduced a 15HD Manticore ('Rexvoro, the Lord of all Manticores east of the Dragon's Teeth') that had various enhancements (larger dice for damage, dragonne's special roar) as one of my main villains.

He would work great as a triple HD huge manticore with an elite ability array and a few enhancements.

Their are alot of great things about a Manticore both flavorwise and mechanically. They are based on a mythic creature, so you get to dig in that well. They have a ranged attack sadly lacking in so many other magical beasts, which lets them deal tactically with PC cheese.

 

[NarlethDrider]

if the drow is not original to D&D, where did it originate?

some of my faves:
Varag
Drow
Drider
Scorrow
Drider templete

 

[JustKim]

Drow are from Norse myth, where there are elves of light and dark. A dark elf is called a svartalf, but like a lot of Norse myths it became bastardized by neighboring cultures. In Scotland, the svartalf were adopted as trow. It took some clever 70s D&D creative liberty (or possibly one of Tolkien's, I've never cared to read Silmarillion) to turn trow into drow.

 

[Gez]

The Trow is actually a Troll, not a svart (black) Alf (elf).

The word drow is said to have a much more dumbass origin: "We need a name for our race of evil, bizarro elves!" "What about a reversed word, the anti-elf could be the 'fle'..." "A reverse word is cool, but 'fle' sucks." "A reversed word is 'drow', actually." "Hey, 'drow' sounds cool!"

I won't vouch for the authenticity of that story, though.

 

[Ry]

Where's the Scorrow from?

 

[JustKim]

The Trow is actually a Troll, not a svart (black) Alf (elf).

Trow do not resemble Norse trolls at all, you are mistaken.
http://www.maryjones.us/jce/trow.html
http://www.orkneyjar.com/folklore/trows/index.html
http://www.orkneyjar.com/folklore/trows/draugr.htm

 

[NarlethDrider]

Where's the Scorrow from?

Secrets of Xendrik

 

[Jhaelen]

Drow are from Norse myth, where there are elves of light and dark. A dark elf is called a svartalf, but like a lot of Norse myths it became bastardized by neighboring cultures. In Scotland, the svartalf were adopted as trow. It took some clever 70s D&D creative liberty (or possibly one of Tolkien's, I've never cared to read Silmarillion) to turn trow into drow.

Do you really believe 'drow' have anything at all in common with the Norse 'trow'? I think, that's pretty far-fetched.
And comparing drow to svartalfs is like comparing garden gnomes to redcaps. There's about zero similarity.

Edit: Just had a look at the link to the Orkney site - I am pretty amazed. There's actually really a trow 'variant' that is spelled drow?! I always assumed the word 'drow' was simply made up by Mr. G. like 'gith'.